


violent demeanour

by d3vilsivy



Series: Wildfire Vagrant [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Ableism, Drinking, Familial Abuse, Gen, Red Hawke (Dragon Age), Verbal Abuse, makes the wallace and grommet cheese face emoji the whole time im writing this, my tags are looking so sketch lately, the one that screams yikes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24283270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/d3vilsivy/pseuds/d3vilsivy
Summary: gin and carver's relationship has always been rocky, but when the elder sibling returns from an extended expedition after leaving her brother behind, things reach a breaking point.enter varric, endowed with wicked keen intuition and a seemingly limitless bar tab. gin says more words at once than she probably ever has or will again.
Series: Wildfire Vagrant [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752982
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	violent demeanour

**Author's Note:**

> violent demeanour is a song by fionn regan
> 
> 100% triggered myself hashing out this dialog while i was at work today lol i hadnt planned on introducing gin this way but when it hits it fuckin hits bro
> 
> carver has a learning disability, and unfortunately his family (especially malcolm and then gin) never had much patience for it. of course, none of them have ever thought about it in much depth.

when gin hawke, just now returning from a long, near-fatal trip to the deep roads, pushed open the door to her uncle's hovel, she thought perhaps she was back in the fade again. her mother was fussing with the fastenings on the armor of a lanky young templar. when he turned to see who'd entered, gin saw that he wore her ass of a baby brother's face. 

"nice to see you're alive, ginny," he said, his tone airy and derisive. 

"don't fucking call me that with a bloody sunburst on your chest," she growled. his upper lip curled in distaste. 

"maker, i  _ knew _ you'd be like this."

"oh, i'm just getting started," she spat. "have you got no respect for your own father's memory? for beth's? or do you just like how powerful you feel now that you have an entire prison tower full of mages at your mercy?" 

he looked truly hurt for a moment, before his expression hardened. gin plowed onward. 

" _your_ _order_ is made up of sadistic lyrium addicts who think they're doing the maker's work by wrecking the minds of mages like me! you _know_ they'd make me tranquil in a heartbeat, carver!" 

"i can keep them away from you!" 

"no, you can't! fuck, carver, did you ever even  _ listen _ to him? or have you forgotten him already?" 

"i wish i could forget him! all he ever did was scream at me like this!" 

"maybe you fucking deserved it!" 

"ginevra!" leandra snapped, rising suddenly from her chair. her hands shook, balled into fists at her sides. both siblings had forgotten she was present. 

gin moved to open the door.

"i won't put hands on you in front of her, but if you come  _ anywhere _ near me or my friends  _ ever _ again, i just hope you have enough brains left inside that thick skull of yours to figure out  _ exactly _ what kind of welcome you'll get." 

and with that, she stormed back out. 

.. 

two hours later, varric awoke fully dressed on his bed at the hanged man to a cacophony of thuds and raised voices. as the fog of sleep faded, he recognized two of them and cursed. he was out in the barroom in moments. 

"let go of me," gin hollered, kicking uselessly back at aveline's armored shins. 

"hawke, i can't keep letting this happen."

"wait a minute, aveline," varric said, walking up to squint into what he assumed was the face of the man on the floor before them. he was in terrible shape, likely at the courtesy of the snarling hellion in a headlock, but the dwarf had many ways of recognizing people. "that's brenton alver." he gave the man a swift kick to the stomach for good measure. the sorry bastard was barely lucid enough to groan. "i think our friendly neighborhood hothead just did you a favor." 

aveline sighed heavily, and let gin stumble out of her grip.

"hawke, do me a  _ real _ favor next time and just tell me with your words when someone needs arresting," she said. 

"...he woulda bolted," hawke mumbled. 

"right. well, i have work to do. glad to see you back in one piece. varric," she nodded in his direction before hefting the now unconscious man effortlessly over her shoulder and exiting the bar. 

varric took gin by the elbow and led her to their usual table in the corner of the room.

"you lied to aveline for me."

"oh, no, that guy had it coming. sort of. but it would have looked pretty bad if  _ you _ didn't know that."

"...thanks."

"now, you wanna tell me what that was really about?" 

"no."

"well, that's too bad, cus you woke me up from the first nap i've had on a real bed in over a month."

"you're the one who decided to live in a bar."

"case in point. i've seen plenty of brawls, but from the state of that guy's face, you weren't planning on stopping before aveline got between you."

"he grabbed my shoulder from behind."

"what happened  _ before _ that, hawke?" 

"fuck, varric! if i tell you, will you let me drink in peace?" 

"sure."

gin snorted humorlessly. "my idiot brother joined the templars."

when there was no response, gin looked up from her ale to find varric fixing her with a quizzical gaze. "what?" 

"is that really surprising to you?" 

"the hell is that supposed to mean?" 

"that boy craves stability and purpose. why do you think he kept following you around despite his bitching?" 

"cus he doesn't have any better ideas."

"well, you left him behind, so he had to come up with something."

"but why the bloody templar order?" 

"think about it. it's a perfect fit. he gets more training in the only thing he likes doing, swinging that damn sword around-"

"he coulda just stuck with the red iron-" gin interjected, but varric moved right on. 

"-he gets purpose from the chantry, and circles are run on routine."

"carver never gave a shit about the chantry. believe me, the sisters in Lothering tried."

"well, did he tell you why he was doing it?"

"he said he wanted to keep them away from me."

"sounds like a noble purpose to me."

"varric, you know it doesn't work like that. after everything our family's been through, he oughtta know that too." she groaned. "maker, i need another fucking drink."

a few tankards later, gin was sloshed and a little more pensive. varric was struggling to keep pace with her guzzling. 

"if aveline hadnt been there, would you have stopped me?"

"probably."

"what if i hurt you?" 

"i think i'd be fine, hawke."

"but i  _ could _ , y'know. i could really… fuck you up."

"oh, go jerk off somewhere else." 

"you really haven't thought about it?" 

"i try not to spend too much time wondering whether my friends could kill me."

"the company you keep, maybe you should."

"you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy, hawke?" 

"tyna tell me I'm'a die alone, cus i can't be nice?" 

"you're only illustrating my point," he muttered. "what i'm trying to say is, when you're always expecting the worst, from yourself or from others, sometimes that's what causes the worst to happen."

she stared blankly. 

"too drunk. got it. well, when the maker closes a door, he does tend to leave a window cracked." varric finished off his ale and turned to signal the bartender for another. "should i start by confessing my undying love to you, or should i just go ahead and draw d-" he cut himself off when he heard a choked, miserable sound coming from his companion's direction. he looked back, and his eyes went wide. was she… crying? 

"hawke?" 

"i fucked up," she gasped, face leaking. "i really, i really fucked up this time."

"you beat up your own brother?" he didn't really believe what he said, he just wanted to get some details out of her before they both went gray and died. 

"no!" she protested a bit loudly, before sinking back down in her chair. "i mean, i might as well have. told him not to show his face around here anymore or i'd kick his ass."

"that doesn't sound  _ too _ serious." gin glared at him, then turned her gaze back to her drink. 

"i was really mean to him. he's… i know he's not that dumb. he's a good kid. i just… it felt like a bolt through my chest, seeing him in that armor."

"yeah."

"i just can't believe… how could he do that? to me? to ma? circles're dangerous for everyone. whole building full of trapped, scared people. and the lyrium…"

"i mean, it's carver. i'm sure he didn't think it all the way through before committing."

"aren't you supposed to be making me feel better?" 

"oh, is  _ that _ what we're doing? well, who knows, maybe he'll meet a pretty young templar girl and they'll have a whole litter of mage-punching brutes together. you'd be an aunt!" 

"go fuck yourself, tethras."

"that's more like it."

"he must really hate me now."

"can i tell you something about siblings? i'm gonna tell you something about siblings."

"why even ask," she mumbled. 

"you can hate them and still love them."

"wow. deep."

"just… don't give up on him yet."

"i'm telling you that next time you start bitching about bartrand."

"alright, fine. one more drink, and i'm buying you a room or sending you home."

"here."

he went to the bar and quickly returned with a drink in each hand. if gin noticed her tankard was filled with water, she didn't remark on it. 


End file.
